Tips on Help Files in Windows 95/98 Creating All Staff
Be Win95-Ready
Even if you're writing a help file for Windows 3.1, you can make it look better in Windows 95. If you have a group of related topics (Monitors, Color and Monitors, Monochrome, for example), separate the main and subtopics with a colon. If you do so, the topics will appear like this when the file is displayed in Windows 95:
Monitors
Color
Monocohrome
Bitmaps and Pieces
Pepper your help file with screenshots if it is documenting an application. If you are producing a document or manual, use graphics such as charts, graphs or cartoons. Scanned photographs won't reproduce well because Windows help is limited to 4-bit color or a total of 16 colors/shades of gray.
Create Hot Spot Graphics
Make your help file easier to use by taking advantage of the hot spot editor, which allows you to select sections of a graphic and assign them as jumps or pop-ups. Thus, you can take a screenshot graphic and make each of the buttons and dialog boxes on it a "hot spot." This takes up much less space in the help file than if you constructed a screen image from numerous separate graphics, each a hot spot. It's also more intuitive.
Making a Big Glossary
Need to explain something in your help file? Create a glossary entry and turn the word that needs to be explained into a pop-up hot-spot. Some tools allow you to easily place a "Glossary" button on the permanent WinHelp button bar at the top of the screen; this becomes a useful navigation tool.
Merge Keyword Lists
If you use several help files in conjunction with each other, you can create a single alphabetical keyword list for all of them--even if they were written by different vendors. Just edit (or create) a .CNT file with the same name as your main help file and include these two statements:
:BASE base.hlp
:INDEX Base Help=base.hlp
Always back up the .CNT file before changing it.
Paper Clips and Post-Its
You can annotate any help file with your own tips, tricks or experiences. Select Edit/Annotate. Type your annotation into the dialog box, or paste in material from the clipboard. When you select Save, your annotation will be saved and your help file will be marked with an image of a paper clip. This is your visual indication that there is an annotation. Single-click on the paper clip to read the annotation.
Saving Space with Graphics
If you use a graphic multiple times in a help file, set all of the pointers in the file to the same graphic, rather than using multiple copies. This saves disk space when you compile the Help file.
Use Icons to Clarify Topic Types
Make it instantly clear to users what kind of help topic they're viewing by using a small icon at the top of the screen. There are four main types of help topics: Contents, Information, Commands and Procedures.
Using the Right Words
The best titles for help topics are short phrases that begin with the "ing" form of a verb--like the heading above.
Using the Title Bar
You can use the title bar of your Help file for more than just the name of the file. If you're planning multiple versions of a Help file, make the date and version number part of the title, so a user can tell at a glance what version it is.
Why Write Help Files?
Consider using Windows Help for electronic publishing, since every copy of Windows comes with a copy of the WinHelp "reader." Electronic documents are less expensive to distribute, get into user hands faster, and are easier to search, copy and print than paper documentation. It's easy to write simple help files, but the tools for doing so are not included in the standard Windows package. You must either find shareware or buy a commercial package such as ForeHelp ($395; 800-357-8507, 303-499-9181) or HelpBreeze 1.6 ($279; 408-736-1431).
